one sign that you just may have market domination

Local colleges offer classes on the use of your branded product. This brings up a discussion I had with my sister last week, about branding and marketing and the results thereof. She contends that when your brand name has so saturated the market that it is considered a product name (i.e. scotch tape, saran wrap, hoover, cool whip), it is the ultimate marketing coup. I disagree, because when your trademarked brand becomes synonomous with a product to such a degree that I when I need to wrap presents so I write “scotch tape” on the list, merely meaning “clear cellophane tape” and may walk out of the store carrying any brand, as long as it’s clear, that brand name is actually diluted. Based on the fact that the term for this phenomenon is “genericide,” I think I might be right. And I think Apple is on the way down this path with the iPod, but I’m not sure I have any handy suggestions for correcting course.